Ivanovic returns to Montreal, the city of best and worst

Unsure of her participation in the 2008 Rogers Cup because of a thumb injury, yet eager to return to the site of her first major tournament victory as the new No. 1 player in the world, she played.

Ivanovic lost to Tamira Paszek of Austria, and then was forced to miss the Beijing Olympics because of the injury.

Four years later, she’ll finally be back for this year’s event, which will take place from Aug. 4-13 – overlapping with the end of the tennis event at London Summer Olympics.

“Montreal has always been a very special tournament for me. I still remember winning it in 2006 very vividly, and beating Martina (Hingis) in the final on Monday. It’s been amazing memories,” Ivanovic said on a conference call Thursday. “Very unfortunate about last time in 2010 that I missed, but I’m looking forward to coming back and playing again. “Obviously it’s a tough schedule making it right after Olympics, but I’m very excited, and I hope I can make it again a very good tournament for me,” she added.

The last time the women were here in 2010, Ivanovic’s stock had fallen and she needed a wild card to get into the main draw. Tournament director Eugene Lapierre declined to offer her one, saying the Québécois players were better drawing cards for the event and suggesting Ivanovic was better off playing the qualifying anyway, given her struggles.

This did not go over well with Ivanovic’s many fans, who didn’t buy the legitimacy of the reason, in most cases not knowing or understanding how things work in the Quebec market (but even if they did, they probably wouldn’t have believed it anyway).

Lapierre’s rather harsh career advice, however was another matter entirely.

“To be honest, it was a little bit hurtful back in 2010, but it’s behind us. As much as it was a hurtful then, I still had plenty of nice memories so I really wanted to reflect on that. What happened, it was in the past,” Ivanovic said. “The tournament director has apologized about what happened, so I really hope we can all put it behind us. I’m really happy to see the fans again.”

Lapierre, rather unusually, moderated the conference call. He even introduced Ivanovic and listed her many achievements (including her popularity on Facebook and her web site) before she took questions.

It was kind of awkward. Note Ivanovic didn’t mention him by name, instead calling him the “tournament director”, in the quote above.

Ivanovic’s results when the women’s event has been in Toronto haven’t been particularly noteworthy. But her efforts at the Rogers Cup in Montreal have been kind of a Cliff’s Notes version of her career.

In 2006, a rising star but hardly a household name, she won the event.

Ivanovic didn’t face any top-10 players – the tournament was decimated every year by the last-minute withdrawals of marquee names on those years – but that took nothing away from the supreme effort. She defeated No. 14 Dinara Safina in the semifinal, and No. 12 Hingis in the final, in routine fashion.

When she returned in 2008, she was the French Open champion and the No. 1 player in the world.

But the thumb injury hampered her. After defeating then-unknown Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic in her first match, she lost to Paszek and, after a tearful press conference, began a tumble from the top of the mountain.

Thus began a long period of nagging injuries leading to inconsistent results, which were compounded by the resulting lack of confidence. A vicious circle.

In 2010, ranked around No. 60, Ivanovic had received wild cards from several events as she tried to make her way back. But not Montreal.

Right now, she’s ranked No. 14 and not only is she straight in, she’s likely to be seeded.

So what’s in store for 2012?

“I definitely hope it will be like 2006 coming back. This is a new year, and a new opportunity,” she said. “I’ve been more consistent in my results and playing better, so really hope I can have a great tournament. It would mean a lot to me.”

Back in 2006, Ivanovic won her rain-delayed final on a Monday.

This year, because of the Olympic schedule, the final is scheduled for Monday night.

The question is, does Ivanovic still have that fantastic T-shirt?

(Ivanovic practice pics from the French Open are exclusively copyrighted by the Gazette/Postmedia, and may not be reproduced or re-published in any other medium)

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